Interview With Bantam Tile Works

Michele: We’re here at Bantam tile Works to learn everything there is to know about this amazing creative business right here in Bantam.

Darin: Thank you so much for coming, I’m Darin Ronning.

Travis: I’m Travis Messinger. 

Michele: Nice to meet both of you. So we want to know your story, gentlemen. Why don’t you tell us how you got started in the arts from the beginning?

Travis: From the beginning? Well, as a kid it was all just organic. In high school I took independent study in clay because school only had one or two classes. I just kept going on my own and I didn’t quite do anything in college with it, but I came back to it once we opened up a shop in New York.

Michele: That’s really interesting.

Darin: Yeah, for me it was I had a graphic design background doing corporate graphic design, but really doing a lot of classes on the side at the same time. I started taking a class at Parson’s in tile making in the early 90’s at the time with America’s foremost tile maker.

Michele: And who would that be?

Darin: Frank Giorgini  

Travis -Giorgini

Darin: -Who just recently passed away last year. He was the one that really restarted American tile making, or handmade tile making anyway. 

Michele: That’s fascinating.

Darin: Yeah, he was a great guy and it really lit the fire underneath me. 

Travis: He just happened to be your first teacher.

Darin: Yes, he happened to be my first teacher off and on for the next ten years. I just kept taking classes in New York. 

Michele: And how did you guys connect?

Travis: We met in Minneapolis in the 90s and we moved to New York and opened up a shop together. And when you were taking classes, that’s when you sort of…

Darin: It was called Pepper Jones [The shop in New York.]. We were selling handmade tile, or handmade pottery, but we weren’t making anything, but you know we kept seeing the kinds of things we wanted to be making and all the other inspirations.

Travis: Once we moved up here we had the room to actually expand and to make our own studio and to experiment. 

Michele: And do you hand build?

Darin: Yes, everything is done by hand here.

Michele: I would love to get some film of that some time. 

Darin: Marsh is our chief artist and she is pretty fabulous actually. 

Michele: Yes, see that is really interesting too. How did you find some of the artists that you work with?

Darin: Just random luck. 

Travis: There are just really creative people that come here. 

Darin:i And they ask us if we’re looking for help and yeah, it has brought in some great people. We have had kids as young as fifteen start and yes, it is a good creative area.

Mchele: Yes, it is. It is a very happening area too. Torrington was like gasping it’s last breath before the arts started to bring that community back. It’s really important. 

Darin: Definitely. I know I love what they are doing up there. 

Michele: You mentioned that you see other pieces sometimes that inspire you to create. Can you think of a particular example of that?

Travis: Well, definitely you – (he says pointing to Darin)

Darin: For me it was glass -Tiffany glass, and what they were doing a hundred and fifty years ago with layering colors. It was really what inspired me to start working with glazed and layering colors too. All of our colors are layered up to four layers. That was my inspiration. 

Travis: Darren had told me you have to go see this installation at the Met.

Darin: It was this specific piece at the Met that was just like wow. We had to go. 

Michele: Layering. We do this a lot with the kids. It is really, really fun. Now, if you had to describe with adjectives that would describe the vibe, the emotional vibe, how would you describe in general the work that you create? You know how some folks describe their style as mid-century modern…

Travis: The thing is, we really work with so many people with different styles. We try to work with the people who are buying the tiles who will be having it in their homes and their businesses, so we try to work with them in many different styles.

Darin: So many different people with so many different ideas. Every designer that we work with has a different bend. You know, one of our first clients who we have had here is a homeowner who came in and said “I want to recreate the Palais de Pope in Avignon. And I’m like “Ok.” (laughs) It’s a little bit of a stretch but we did it. 

Travis: We did our research.

Michele: So That’s really fun. There’s art history. You get to explore and recreate things from different eras. 

Darin: Yes, so we recreated like 11th century French tiles. Forty-five hundred hand painted. It was quite the job and in addition to twenty thousand non-imagery tile, it was just colored tile. We recreated this floor and Travis and I went to see it a year after, the original in Avignon, and I thought wow, we did good. 

Michele: Charlie [Dumais] too talks about when he goes on trips he sees things. It is pomegranates now. Most recently in Italy he met a potter and he saw the guy was making a lot of pomegranates. Charlie has clay pomegranates all over.

Darin: That’s great.

Michele: Same thing with me. I’m a painter. And when I came back from Italy it was like phew, phew, phew. Three o’clock in the morning and it was months and months and months. You’ve got to ride that wave when it happens. 

Darin: Yeah, like this floor right here. (Darren points to the floor of the studio.) One of our clients was in Pompei. She snapped a photo of that border and asked us if we could recreate it for her house. And we liked it so much we have been doing it ever since. It’s a two thousand year old design that still works. 

Michele: Blending different cultures together. 

Travis: Yes. 

Michele: Thank you both so very very much. We need to let people know, not just that you’re here, but that art is alive and well and happening all over the place.

Travis: For sure. (Nods in agreement) 

Michele: Well, thanks so much guys. 

Travis and Darin: Thank you.